The Mets defeated the Giants by the score of 4-1 on Thursday on San Francisco, taking two out of three from the defending world champions at AT&T Park. Here are my takeaways from the win…
Utterly deGrominant.
The Mets absolutely had to get a lights out performance from their All-Star ace, and he provided just that on Wednesday.
He was brilliant all afternoon, pounding the lower part of the strike zone with his fastball, keeping the Giants off balanced with his tight slider and heavy change-up, but most importantly was able to split the black on both sides of the plate all day long. He had so much movement on his pitches today and the Giants could not square up on anything.
He had to work out of a couple of jams in the second and third inning, one of which was caused by another error by Daniel Murphy at third base, but thanks to his ability to miss bats and induce weak contact in both of those frames got him out of jams.
Again, he gave the Mets precisely what they needed, and helped deliver a very successful trip to California over the last week. It’s why he’s an All-Star, and now among the best pitchers in baseball – that’s what those kind of pitchers do.
Did the blind squirrel actually find a nut?
The Mets had very little going offensively on Thursday. But what else is new?
Fortunately, the, “just enough offense” formula worked for them today. They took advantage of a throwing error from Brandon Crawford to plate a run in the sixth, during which Ruben Tejada scored all the way from first base.
Then in the seventh, the Mets played some hit-and-run when Jacob deGrom singled Eric Campbell over to third, and then Juan Lagares plated Campbell with a little fielders choice.
Then, Campbell put the cherry on top with a big two-run homer in the ninth inning. That was nice – he has had a rough go of it this season. He’s always working on his offense, taking extra batting practice, watching video, working in the cages, and so on. It’s nice to see him run into one and contributed in a huge way today.
I wrote about this in my game preview, but that’s what the Mets need to start doing. Their offense is terrible, so they need to force the issue whenever they get even a base runner. Terry Collins did that today, pushed across an important run, and gave deGrom some much needed breathing room.
An unexpected success.
The Mets came away with a 4-2 road trip which is surprising for a couple of reasons. One, they’ve stunk on the road all year long. Two, they were playing two tough customers in the Dodgers and Giants, two teams with far superior rosters.
But, the Mets pitching staff came through like that have all year long and shut these two clubs down for the most part. While the offense still leaves a lot to be desired, it’s almost as if the Mets pitching staff – and their starters in particular – took the next step in their evolution.
Now, the Mets just need the offense to complete this puzzle.
Other notes from Thursday:
Campbell’s ninth inning homer was the first hit by a Met since June 27.
Jeurys Famila recorded his 24th save after relieving Bobby Parnell in the ninth following an RBI single from Hunter Pence.
Just Mets 